History teacher William Bellers says he’s found a perfect fit with teaching and coaching. Photo by Natalie Prestegaard

​ Most teachers get to go home after a long day of teaching high schoolers, grading tests, and planning lessons. Pioneer history teacher William Bellers leaves school and heads to the football field to help coach Pioneer’s football team, which finished fourth in its division this year, in addition to teaching five sections of U.S History and Geography. From an early age Bellers knew that both of these jobs would be a great fit for him. Bellers was a high school athlete himself. He played football all four years of high school. “Looking back now, as an adult, I wish I would have done more,” says Bellers. While he does not have one specific sports memory that stands out to him, Bellers is proud of all that his team accomplished. “I was very proud to be a part of a great team that had the first back to back winning seasons at my high school in 10 years. Although Bellers was very involved in his high school sports program, he joined a program much like the Trailblazers program at Pioneer, which helped him figure out what he wanted to do with his life. "I participated in a program that had high school students tutor and mentor elementary students, and I knew then that teaching was what I wanted to do,” he said. Bellers attended Adrian College and received his teaching degree. He played football his freshman and sophomore year before stopping, after switching to Eastern Michigan for college. However, after spending so much of his life playing football, he found that he could not give up such a big part of his identity. "I didn’t know I wanted to become a coach until after I stopped playing football at Adrian, and realized I couldn’t just leave the game I had loved for so long…since it had such a major impact on my life,” says Bellers. Bellers thought about what a big impact his coaches had on his life and felt coaching might be a good fit for him, along with teaching. “I decided to become a coach. That way I could still be involved in the game and hopefully have a positive impact on my players lives like my coaches had on my own life.” Bellers has been coaching since 2001 and has been coaching football at Pioneer since 2012. While he does not have one favorite coaching moment at Pioneer, he is very proud of all of the work that the team has accomplished. "I can’t say I have one single favorite moment; what I will say is that I have enjoyed every moment I have coached here. I have a great appreciation for all of the young men I have had the fortune of coaching here at Pioneer,” says Bellers. Bellers said the best part of coaching is watching the team grow as a whole and really become close. “[What] I have enjoyed most is, each season, watching my teams grow together as a family and realize what it takes and what it means to be successful as a team,” he said.